Quickly adjustable wrench with inclined washer locking means



June 14, 1960 G. B. FARINA QUICKLY ADJUSTABLE; WRENCH WITH INCLINED WASHER LOCKING MEN'S Filed May 19, 1958 United States Patent QUICKLY ADJUSTABLE WRENCH WITH IN- CLINED WASHER LOCKING L'IEANS George B. Farina, General Delivery, Knutsford, British Columbia, Canada Filed May 19, 1958, Ser. No. 736,280

1 Claim. (Cl. 81-380) My invention relates to new and useful improvements in quick adjustable wrenches, the principal object and essence of my invention being to provide a device of the character herewithin described whereby the adjustment between jaws of wrenches may be made readily and easily and which furthermore permits rapid release of the jaws.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which eliminates the usual screw-threaded adjustment required for vicegrips or wrenches.

Yet another object of my invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which is equally applicable to vice-grip jaws, wrenches or pipe wrenches.

With the foregoing objects in view, and such other objects and advantages as will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates as this specification proceeds, my invention consists essentially in the arrangement and construction of parts all as hereinafter more particularly described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of one embodiment of my device.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of a further embodiment of my device.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of still another embodiment of my device.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the diiferent figures.

Dealing first with the embodiment shown in Figure 3, this illustrates a conventional type gripping wrench and consists of a main jaw portion collectively designated 1 including the vertically situated jaw 2 and an elongated operating handle 3 extending therefrom. A portion 4 extends upwardly from the front end of the handle 3, saidportion being apertured to receive slidably the shank 5 of a movable jaw 6 which is formed at right angles upon the left-hand end 7 thereon.

A further portion 8 also extends upwardly from the handie 3 but spaced from theportion 4 and this also acts as a guide for the movement of the shank 5.

Surrounding the cylindrical shank 5 between the portions 4 and 8, I have provided a plurality of hardened steel washers 9 having internal diameters larger than the diameter of the shank 5 so that they may be situated at an angle inclined from the longitudinal axis of the shank as clearly shown in the drawing. A resilient spring 10 is secured by bolt 11 to the base of portion 4 and a further spring 12 is secured by bolt 13 to the top of portion 8, both of these springs engaging around the shank 5 and normally biasing the washers 9 to the position illustrated. From the foregoing it will be appreciated that the jaw 6 may be moved to the right as viewed in the drawing with no interference from the inclined washers 9 but if the operator attempts to move the jaw to the left, then the springs maintaining the washers in the position shown, enable the washers to form a locking action around the shank 5 and prevent movement of the jaw 6 away from the jaw 2. However, in order to permit selective movement of the jaw 6 to the left, I provide a lever 14 extend-. ing upwardly adjacent the spring 12 thus permitting the operator to press on the lever and move same leftwardly against the pressure of springs 10 and 12 thus causing the washers to assume a position at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the shank thereby permitting same to be moved leftwardly to provide the necessary adjustment. It is normal in operation to open the jaws wider than necessary thereupon the lever 14 is released and the movable jaw 6 is moved inwardly so that the jaws embrace the nut.

Figures 1 and 2 show difierent wrenches utilizing the same feature. In Figure 2, a fixed jaw 15 includes a handle portion 16 extending therefrom and a movable jaw 17 pivotally secured to the handle by pin 18 as clearly shown. The movable jaw 17 is substantially triangular in side elevation and a lever 19 is pivotally secured by pin 20 to the apex 21 of the triangular jaw, said lever extending substantially parallel to the handle 16. A clip 22 is slidable on the cylindrical portion 23 of the handle and a link 24 is pivotally secured between the clip and a point 25 along the length of lever 19, screw 26 acting as an adjustment of the relationship between the lever 19 and the link 24.

A relatively short sleeve 27 freely surrounds cylindrical portion 23 and horizontal links 28 connect the clip 22 to the sleeve 27 and maintain same in spaced relationship.

The aforementioned steel washers 9 are located freely upon the cylindrical portion 23 together with springs 10 and 12 and release lever 14, the operation being similar to that hereinbefore described.

Figure l is a similar arrangement with the exception that the fixed handle portion 29 extends at right angles to the fixed jaw 30 and the movable jaw 31 surrounds the handle 29 and is slidable thereon by means of the bearing portion 32 thereof. Inasmuch as the remainder of the construction is similar to that shown in Figure 2, similar reference characters have been given to the various parts.

In Figure 2 a spring 33 extending between the jaw 17 and the handle 16 normally maintains the jaws open with the lever 19 in the uppermost position. In Figure 1 a hairpin type spring 34 surrounds a pin 35 on link 24 and reacts between lever 19 and link 24, once again maintaining the lever 19 in uppermost position.

Since various modifications can be made in my invention as hereinabove described, and many apparently widely different embodiments of same made within'the spirit and scope of the claim without departing from such spirit and scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the accompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

What I claim as my invention is:

In a quickly adjustable wrench, the combination of an elongated handle including a cylindrical handle portion, a fixed jaw provided at one end of said handle, a movable jaw pivoted to said one end portion of said handle for movement toward and away from said fixed jaw, a clip encircling and slidable on said cylindrical portion of the handle, means operatively connecting said movable jaw to said clip whereby the clip is slid on the cylindrical handle portion during movement of said movable jaw toward and away from said fixed jaw, a sleeve encircling and slidable on said cylindrical handle portion in spaced relation from said clip, links connecting said sleeve to said clip for simultaneous sliding movement, a set of annular washers disposed in juxtaposed relation on said cylindrical handle portion between said clip and said sleeve, said washers being straddled by said links and having an inside diameter greater than said cylindrical handle portion whereby V qgiycniaywa'ssnme a locking position wherein theya'reinclin ed to the longitudinal axis of the handle to prevent their sliding thereon, a pair of springs secured to said Clip and said sleeve and having inclined portions in abutment I with said set of washers at opposite ends of the set Whereby said clip and said. sleeve are prevented 'fromsliding on said handle when said Washers are in their rloclging po si fi'o' rrd aninclin'ed actuating lever *intemosed etween bireo ffsaid springs and said set of washers for shifting the latter-10am unlocked position wherei'n'they are disposed substantially, at right angles to andslidable on saiddran die portion.

References fp'ited 'in' tliefife 6f thivpatent V UNITED STATES PATENT-S tamBritain almime ou 3, 1910 

